“Just signed up to be a poll watcher in Cincinnati, hope many more of my fellow Patriots will join me,” one user wrote in a popular QAnon Telegram chat. On far-right forums like patriots.win, Truth Social and Telegram, dozens of users have posted about signing up to work the polls on November 8. In some states, poll watchers have the power to challenge an individual voter’s right to vote. Other conspiracy-minded people have signed up to become poll watchers, officials who are tasked with observing the counting and recording of votes, ensuring that all ballots are counted correctly and reporting suspected irregularities to local officials. The people who work these hyper-local positions are vital to making sure elections run smoothly, and are responsible for checking voters in, setting up election equipment and tabulating votes. Inspired by Flynn and other prominent election deniers, people sympathetic to the “stolen” election conspiracy theory have signed up to become poll workers this November. “Because you know what you're doing? You're watching what they're doing.” 'A poll watcher on any given election day can be as important as a United States Senator or the President of the United States,” Flynn said at the Reawaken America conference in Idaho last month. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser turned QAnon celebrity, has regularly touted the mantra “local action, national impact,” encouraging his followers to get involved in their local communities by becoming poll workers, speaking at government meetings or running for local office. The continued spread of the these “stolen” election lies-and the tactics it has inspired-runs the risk of further normalizing right-wing extremist activity and further eroding trust in the electoral process, undermining one of the core foundations of our democracy.Įmboldened by the false claim that the 2020 election was “rigged,” some election deniers and conspiracy theorists are getting involved in their local elections, eager to do their part to identify possible election “fraud” and prevent the midterm elections from being “stolen.” Some are signing up to work the polls on Election Day, while others are joining their local precinct committees, affecting the process from the ground up. These tactics raise serious concerns about individuals motivated by these false claims interfering with the electoral process, preventing voters from casting their ballots or preventing results from being certified. The ADL Center on Extremism (COE) has identified multiple tactics being employed by election deniers, conspiracy theorists and pro-Trump extremists to affect the U.S. Their goal: to prevent the midterm elections from being “rigged”-in other words, won by Democratic candidates. As the 2022 midterms draw near, individuals animated by these false claims-including election deniers, QAnon adherents, conspiracy theorists and extremists-are attempting to insert themselves and their beliefs into the electoral process. Two years after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, the false claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” or “stolen” continues to inform America’s political landscape.

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